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The Skansen Museum as an Educational Ground for Young Musicians: The story of violinist Starkus Bergdahl (1882–1969)
Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Department of Music Education. (MPC)ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2250-3939
2025 (English)Conference paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

The outdoor museum of Skansen in the heart of Stockholm is the world’s oldest open-air museum, showcasing Swedish culture and nature. Music has been a great part of this museum since its opening days in 1891. In this paper, I will present the young, unknown musician Starkus Bergdahl, who began performing at the age of 13 in 1895 with his violin. This paper will present Skansen as an educational arena for young musicians at the end of the 19th century. Departing from an iconic photograph from 1898 of three well-known musicians: Jonas Skoglund from Tolfta parish and Johan Edlund from the parish of Harg, both key-fiddlers of Uppland and the fiddler Sköld Anders Hedblom from Leksand. A young boy stands in the middle with his violin. The photo is used in several books and presentations of Swedish folk music; however, the youngBergdahl is only presented with his last name. The start of this paper will present the settings of Skansen at the time, with a focus on music and the engagement of other young musicians who presented Swedish music to the visitors of the museum, painting the picture of Skansen as a seedbed for young musicians to grow in their musicianship. In the second part of the paper, I present the music educational life of Starkus Bergdahl after his Skansen years. I have tracked the young violinist, found his name in the newspapers at the time, in the payrolls of Skansen and in additional photos from the archive of Nordiska Museet. Based on these findings, I have also managed to follow him in his music educational journey as a student of the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm as a violin cellist. Also, when he travels to London in 1911 for additional higher music education. Arvid Aristarkus Bergdahl died in 1969 at the age of 87in Hässelby village community, where he lived the main part of his life together with his sister and brother, earning his living as a musician, Kapellmeister in Stockholm. Following the life history of this musician, a music educational journey emerges, starting with folk music at Skansen at a young age, continuing to higher music education with classical music, to alife as a musician at prominent restaurants, salons and ballrooms of the Swedish capital.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Oslo, 2025.
National Category
Musicology Pedagogy
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kmh:diva-6099OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kmh-6099DiVA, id: diva2:2010666
Conference
Nordic Network for Research in Music Education, April 8.–10. in Hurdalsjøen (Norway)
Available from: 2025-11-01 Created: 2025-11-01Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
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